UTRECHT, Netherlands, September 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Eurail Pass Celebrates 50th Anniversary With Special 'Off Peak' Campaign

Each year more overseas students are exploring Europe by train. This summer their numbers have increased spectacularly after the Eurail Group GIE, who manages the Eurail Passes, teamed up with the International Student Identity Card Association (ISIC). Their joint campaign led to an increase of students traveling on a Eurail Select Pass by almost 6 percent. Specialized Eurail Pass distributors in youths even reported an increase of 18 percent.

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Exited by these results, Eurail Group GIE and ISIC start an 'off peak' campaign from October until December; in order to welcome more travelers from all over the world. During the summer, students traveling on a 8 day Select Pass were offered 2 days of free rail travel. At the end of this year, the offer applies to all students traveling on a 21 day Eurail Global Pass. Besides 2 extra free travel days, the students can travel to Italy or Greece with the ATTICA Group (a GIE member), and upgrade their travel from deck to a bed in a shared cabin. "This is just the beginning of the jointly promoted ISIC-GIE student offers. We aim to reinforce the global reach of the Eurail Pass offer to the youth and student market," says Ana Dias e Seixas, Eurail Group's marketing director.

Last year, 30,9 percent of all Eurail Passes sold were youth passes. A slight increase compared to the 30,4 percent in 2007. However, the share of youth passengers from North America increased from 30,8 to 33,7 percent from Central America from 27,9 to 32,3 percent. These numbers underline the growing popularity of exploring Europe by train amongst youngsters in these continents.

The new campaign marks the 50th anniversary of the Eurail Pass. In 1959, railway companies in 13 European countries started issuing 1st class rail passes. In 1971, they started issuing 2nd class passes, thus opening an entire new market for young railway enthusiasts. GIE started managing the Eurail Pass in 2001 and in 2009 the number of participating countries increased to 21. The ISIC card is accepted in over 100 countries and offers students over 40.000 discounts. Ana Dias e Seixas: "After 50 successful years, traveling by train remains a popular way to explore the diverse cultures, folklore, music, history and landscapes of Europe. The 21 days Eurail Global Pass is the ideal pass to travel daily and cover a lot of ground."

More information: http://www.eurailgroup.com or http://www.eurailtravel.com

SOURCE Eurail Group G.I.E.

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